Kim Clijsters made tennis history 16 years ago. She owes this in part to Steffi Graf. The Belgian’s legacy lives on to this day.
Even though her second and third comebacks were not quite as successful, the four-time Grand Slam winner Kim Clijsters has left an indelible mark on tennis.
It has now been exactly 16 years since Clijsters made tennis history on September 13, 2009, winning the US Open immediately after her return as the first wild card holder – thanks in part to Steffi Graf.
Clijsters retires early
Clijsters was considered a huge talent in her younger years and had reached four Grand Slam finals before her 21st birthday. However, her nerves always got the better of her there. As she also suffered a string of injuries, Clijsters ended her career in May 2007 at the age of just 23 with only one Grand Slam singles title to her name.
Clijsters had had enough of tennis and wanted to start a family. A few months after her retirement, she married basketball player Brian Lynch and gave birth to her daughter Jada in February 2008 – shortly after which her father passed away. At that point, Clijsters rarely thought about tennis.
A special invitation changed that: the Flemish player was invited to take part in an exhibition match to inaugurate the new Wimbledon roof. It was a great honor, but what really sparked her interest was the name of her opponent: Steffi Graf, her great idol.
Idol Graf awakens ambition
Driven by the anticipation of playing against Graf—and the fear of embarrassing herself—Clijsters trained hard and rediscovered her love of tennis.
Even before the match, Clijsters announced her return: “I see this as a second career, not a comeback. Because this time, it’s no longer all about tennis 24 hours a day.”
Kim Clijsters was the first wild card to win a usopen women’s singles title in 2009. @Clijsterskim usopentrivia pic.twitter.com/sazzjk1cIe
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 31, 2014
Clijsters won the exhibition match and took the opportunity to ask Graf what she thought of her plan. “She thought I had the necessary drive and power to make it and didn’t see any fundamental problem with traveling as a mother. Her encouragement was a great help,” Clijsters told the world.
Due to her two-year break, she needed wildcards to be able to participate in tournaments at all. In Cincinnati and Toronto, Clijsters celebrated impressive victories against top 20 players, but lost to the world’s best.
US Open gives her a wild card
The US Open also gave its former champion a wild card. Clijsters came at the ideal moment for them, as women’s tennis was in crisis. Serena Williams dominated Grand Slams with ease, and for the rest of the year, players described by the media as “interchangeable tennis robots” fought for the number 1 spot.
Clijsters, who popularized sliding on hard courts to the point of doing the splits long before Novak Djokovic, was considered a welcome change with her playing style and personality. However, no one gave her a chance of winning the US Open, and Clijsters herself stated that “reaching the second week” was a bold goal.
She achieved this with ease, even though she preferred to watch movies like Ice Age with her daughter instead of conducting extensive analysis of her opponents. That was enough to defeat number three Venus Williams in the round of 16 and Li Na in the quarterfinals.
Scandal surrounding Serena Williams
In the semifinals, however, she faced the tournament favorite Serena Williams, who had swept through the tournament so far.
To everyone’s surprise, however, Clijsters put up a strong fight and put Williams under pressure at every opportunity, something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. When Clijsters won the first set 6-4, Williams smashed a racket, which resulted in a warning.
In the second set, with the score at 5-6, 15-30 from Williams’ perspective, a scandal erupted. A line judge ruled that Williams had committed a foot fault on her second serve, resulting in a double fault. Williams completely lost her temper and threatened to “shove the ball down her throat.”
As this earned her a second warning, it resulted in a penalty point and thus the loss of the match.
The following day, the focus was once again on whether Williams felt she had been treated unfairly – Clijsters’ performance, which had already put Williams on the brink of defeat, became a side issue.
Clijsters crowns fairy tale in final
Unlike Sam Stosur and Naomi Osaka in later years, Clijsters was fortunate in New York that her big moment was not completely overshadowed by the commotion surrounding Williams, as the final was still to come. There, Clijsters started nervously against Caroline Wozniacki, just as she had in her younger years.
But unlike in “her first career,” Clijsters recovered, winning 7-5, 6-3—and becoming the first wild card starter ever to win a Grand Slam. She later explained why she had withstood the pressure this time: “As a mother, you learn to deal with your emotions differently.”
Clijsters had achieved what she wanted to prove: “It showed that it is possible to be a mother and an athlete.” In 2010, she defended her title and then went on to win the Australian Open. Shortly afterwards, she became the only mother to date to be ranked number one in tennis.
Retirement again after injuries
Her incredible comeback had an impact far beyond the world of sport, and in 2011 Time magazine named Clijsters one of the 100 most influential people in the world. However, injuries prevented her from achieving further success, which is why she retired again after the 2012 US Open. Five years later, she was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame.
Clijsters made her final comeback in 2020 and once again played unsuccessfully in the US Open, which she had won in 2005, 2009, and 2010.
In the meantime, Clijsters had founded the Kim Clijsters Academy to support young talent. Even professionals such as Elise Mertens trained there regularly or sought advice.
Andreescu reminds us of Clijsters
However, the true magnitude of her legacy only became apparent later. Quite a few players entering the WTA Tour were at least partly shaped by Clijsters’ example.
One example is Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, who combines Clijsters’ playful style and powerful shots with great mental strength – but after many injuries, she is currently lacking a little self-confidence. The 21-year-old’s former coach, Sylvain Bruneau, also saw “extreme similarities” in the two players’ styles.
When Caroline Wozniacki said after their 2019 US Open duel that the match reminded her of “her duels with Kim,” Andreescu was flattered: “I looked up to her a lot when I started playing tennis.”
Wozniacki also emulates Clijsters
But that’s not the only legacy Clijsters has left behind. Tennis moms are now much more confident about returning after taking time off to have babies, with Clijsters’ success encouraging many.
A current example is, of all people, her former US Open final opponent Wozniacki. However, the Dane did not achieve a sensation similar to Clijsters’ after her comeback in 2023.
Kim Clijsters’ incredible US Open story will most likely remain unique for a long time to come.